1 day/class a week (think 3M, Bell Labs, Google's 20% time, Apple's Blue Sky program, etc.)
1 month/project - BCS does a roughly 2 month version of this during the Re:Make project in 7th/8th Engage
1 year (elective) - BCS does this. Students meet twice a week for 60 minutes each time (7th and 8th grade) or 45 minutes each time (5th and 6th). Some students take the elective for all 4 years.
Summary:
Thinkering Studio is a collaborative space/time/studio/project/class for students to:
explore topics or technologies of interest, at their pace, and in directions of their choosing
collaborate informally and formally, in person and electronically, synchronously and asynchronously
reflect on their creations, processes, successes, difficulties, and learning
keep a multimodal journal and portfolio
create footsteps, examples, resources, or other artifacts for themselves & others who might follow
Teacher presents a variety of past projects that hit a variety of topics, tools, depth, etc.
Think-Pair-Share - Students brainstorm topics, technologies, questions, projects, resources, etc. that they enjoy, want to explore, or are curious about inside or outside of school
Add brainstormed topics to an overall list of project ideas on class wiki
Students pick a first topic/project
Students create and present a project proposal
Students just do it, have fun, reflect as they go, make changes
Students complete weekly journals (including plans, effort & achievement, and reflections)
Students complete bi-weekly peer critiques
Students complete project pages (or similar project resource such as a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, Instructable, etc.)
Students curate a (at least quarterly) portfolio
Class discussions (bring up as the fit arises throughout the project/course/year)
When have you discovered for yourself or taught yourself something? (Inside or outside of school)
How is learning how to play soccer, play an instrument, learn English, learn a language at school, write a story, etc. similar/different?
What are some general strategies to learn something? Which do you seem to prefer? What are some things that make it harder to learn? How do different technologies help/hinder your learning?
Can anyone else actually teach you anything? "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." Socrates
What is failure? How can failure be beneficial? How do you overcome failures?
Are there levels of failure?
What is a smart failure?
If you achieve an "Epic Fail," have you learned more than most people who easily succeed or succeed by following a "recipe"?
Differentiating between consumption and production?
Biweekly Teacher Meeting - Teacher meets with each student individually every other week for a 5 minute check in on their current project/topic, journal, portfolio, etc. Alternatively, teacher could listen in to a peer critique session.
Objectives:
Student Dispositions
Engagement
Curious
Self-directed
Reflective
Empathetic
Persevering
Student Skills
Setting goals
Planning/Scheduling/Budgeting Time
Self-management
Problem solving
Documenting
Self-assessment
Teachers
Develop question asking skills and nurturing skills to help students find projects that are meaningful to them and that will push them
Thinkering Studio - Maker Ed - Genius Hour
1 month/project - BCS does a roughly 2 month version of this during the Re:Make project in 7th/8th Engage
1 year (elective) - BCS does this. Students meet twice a week for 60 minutes each time (7th and 8th grade) or 45 minutes each time (5th and 6th). Some students take the elective for all 4 years.
Discussion: